So... I have been struggling to write this post for two days now, and I am finally just going to put it out there with what I've been thinking. Technology and racism... why was it so hard for me to find things to use? Well, that's the problem isn't it? I scoured the internet looking for fun activities to get my students involved in and get the racism conversation going, but guess what? There really isn't much. After looking at everyones blog posts I noticed this was a problem, because everyone kind of has the same activities up.
Stuff like:
1. Labelling the photo or asking questions about what the inherent message is.
This picture, along with (unfortunately) tons of others, sparks a whole conversation about racism. Asking our students the simplest of questions can get some really deep thinking going. What is going on in this picture? Who is in this picture? Why was it taken? Etc. It's a great conversation starter, but is it enough? Of course not!
2. Another popular idea was using a similar tactic with memes and media. Showing how wrong they can be while being so unbelievably right.
Again, we ask our students to question the ideas here. Is it true? Has this brutality always been around, or do we have more technology to see it happening more often now with the evolution of cell phones and video streaming?
3. The third and final popular way to talk about racism in classes is through the idea of ads. Over the past decade or so we as people have entered into a state of argumentation over social media that really benefits no one. And one of the main topics there is always about the implicit meaning seen in certain ads. Are they racist?
Clearly this particular ad is racist, but can we have our students talk about why? What kind of things is KFC trying to say by having one white man in a crowd of black and brown people? And does this help people with particular stereotypes about a race to continue to judge them based on things that are not even real?
Obviously this is some really great material to get our students looking out how racism plays a part in media, ads, memes, etc. But I was looking for more. I wanted more websites against racism. More action! More powerful words to dismantle this subculture of racist tendencies! And all I found was the actual need for sites and activities like that. Now, I'm not the most creative person in the world, but certainly someone should be trying to think out of the box for these things.
So can we get our students thinking about this idea that there are not nearly enough antiracist platforms? How can we create them? Can our students think of some antiracism activities to get more people involved? Inclusive clubs? Something more than what we have, because this is never going to be "enough" stuff to help our society move away from their internalized racisms.
Stuff like:
1. Labelling the photo or asking questions about what the inherent message is.
This picture, along with (unfortunately) tons of others, sparks a whole conversation about racism. Asking our students the simplest of questions can get some really deep thinking going. What is going on in this picture? Who is in this picture? Why was it taken? Etc. It's a great conversation starter, but is it enough? Of course not!
2. Another popular idea was using a similar tactic with memes and media. Showing how wrong they can be while being so unbelievably right.
Again, we ask our students to question the ideas here. Is it true? Has this brutality always been around, or do we have more technology to see it happening more often now with the evolution of cell phones and video streaming?
3. The third and final popular way to talk about racism in classes is through the idea of ads. Over the past decade or so we as people have entered into a state of argumentation over social media that really benefits no one. And one of the main topics there is always about the implicit meaning seen in certain ads. Are they racist?
Clearly this particular ad is racist, but can we have our students talk about why? What kind of things is KFC trying to say by having one white man in a crowd of black and brown people? And does this help people with particular stereotypes about a race to continue to judge them based on things that are not even real?
Obviously this is some really great material to get our students looking out how racism plays a part in media, ads, memes, etc. But I was looking for more. I wanted more websites against racism. More action! More powerful words to dismantle this subculture of racist tendencies! And all I found was the actual need for sites and activities like that. Now, I'm not the most creative person in the world, but certainly someone should be trying to think out of the box for these things.
So can we get our students thinking about this idea that there are not nearly enough antiracist platforms? How can we create them? Can our students think of some antiracism activities to get more people involved? Inclusive clubs? Something more than what we have, because this is never going to be "enough" stuff to help our society move away from their internalized racisms.
I appreciate how you wrote about this! Honestly, I was thinking the same thing, but since I completed the blog early, I was able to do the one looking at ads. I completely agree there needs to be more out there so teachers have access to different modes of teaching about racism, especially with integrating technology.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not as creative with different activities, which is why I try to get to as many educational conferences as I can because thats where I learn about a lot of different activities. Hopefully, the closer we get into the field and the more experience we get, we are also able to find and create more activities for students to teach and talk about race and racism!